Welcome to the Codex! Every Friday, we will focus on one topic from one of the upcoming books, or one of the books that have been published. The Codex will review what is commonly known about that topic in the world, even if just at a scholarly level. There will still be mysteries, but if you are interested in learning more about something you read in the book or in another blog post, the Codex is the way to go.
This is the third post in a trilogy detailing the oldest foundational elements of the Twin Worlds setting. The first and second post, The Trienorn and The Ledhrorn, can be found in the Codex section.
The Fourth Age of the Twin Worlds was an age of stagnation. The Ledhrorn, now divided into the Thelalorn (on Ibrin) and the Iranorn (on Azran), were nowhere near as mighty as their Trienorn ancestors and they feared that, if mortals discovered the truth about their usurpation, as well as their less-than-divine origins, they would rebel against their rule. So the Ledhrorn systematically dismantled anything associated with old history, actively worked to keep realms stagnant, and discouraged planar travel as well (since they didn't know what kind of knowledge could be acquired in the Wandering Planes).
Although imperfect, the system worked well enough, keeping mortals tranquil, for almost ten thousand years. But eventually, two elements threw a wrench into the system itself. The first of these elements appeared nine years before the War of Saints. A group of travelers from Outside - perhaps from the same realm the Trienorn had come from, perhaps elsewhere - appeared in Ibrin, and accidentally met with Hethner, the leader of the Thelalorn, shortly afterwards. Given their skill, he asked them to help him with a mysterious string of deaths in the city of Bradal, where they first encountered and defeated the kenolater, Koradrane Quinom. In the wake of their success, the surviving heroes - two of them having apparently met their end in Bradal - were granted honors by Hethner. One of them founded the Gates of Dawn, which would later be the capital of the kingdom of Brightland.
Two years later, these heroes - now called the wyldervay, which meant "without Reflection" in the Neric language - were invited to compete in the Thielith, a massive tournament held every fifty years by the Ledhrorn as a group, pitting great heroes against each other. Unbeknownst to most, the tournament was meant to identify potential challenges to Ledhrorn rule; but this particular Thielith ended very differently. Three monstrous creatures - abominations called the Aathorn - attacked the tournament during the last event, shortly after the kenolater Koradrane Quinom had been killed by a returned Faelar, one of the two heroes seemingly lost in Bradal. The wyldervay were approached by Hethner in the wake of the battle, and he explained that this had to be the first sign of the awakening of the "great evil" called the Lady of Souls. Ironically, although Hethner and his counterpart Hindruukaarg had led the Ledhrorn into burying the history of the Twin Worlds, he revealed to the wyldervay the existence of the Trienorn, and asked them to awaken them so they could prevent the Lady from destroying the world.
The wyldervay had to be the ones to do so. Having come from Outside, they were among a handful of creatures who had no Reflection and didn't need to worry about their fate being linked to someone else. The Reflection also impeded planar travel, and they would need to travel indeed - because the only way to awaken the Trienorn was to find the Horn of Awakening through the Path of Carmad, a metaphysical path set forth by the Ledhrorn to prevent others from doing exactly that.
The wyldervay accepted the challenge and began the Path. They visited Enu, where Faelar first met the Lady, although he didn't recognize her at the time and thought she was Death. There, they also met two other explorers who joined their company, although one of them - burdened by a Reflection - became undead shortly afterwards. They entered Sisteri and reawakened the Immortals of Nithisis, achieving greater power in the meantime at the cost of Faelar's own mortality. Losing their friend to godhood, the wyldervay also met the Lady and found that Hethner had either deceived them or been deceived himself. The Lady wasn't evil: she was the original creator of the primal world, the one who had fought the Trienorn to try and repair the Twin Worlds after their ascension. Knowing this, the wyldervay threw their lot in with her.
In Tiogair, they accidentally stumbled onto the ancient refuge of Synnus Starspeaker, the rebel Trienorn, and first discovered that someone was ahead of them on the Path: Koradrane Quinom, the kenolater, had returned from death in the horrid form of The Worm That Walks. There, the wyldervay saved Lilaire, a guardian of the Path, though they had to let Koradrane go as a result.
In the meantime, in the Twin Worlds, the Thelalorn and Iranorn found out about Hethner's activities (and Hindruukaarg's, who had allowed Koradrane to enter the Path). The two were sentenced to death at the same time, to prevent another rent. But even so, the Ledhrorn panicked, and gathered soldiers to travel to Dorwyn, where the sleeping Trienorn lay. There, they planned to stop the wyldervay before they could sound the Horn and awaken their forebears. At the same time, the great Dragon Danthyrameliath, an ancient servant of the Trienorn, gathered his own forces to oppose them and ensure the Trienorn awakened.
On the plains of Dorwyn, on the edge of Dream, the two groups clashed while the wyldervay, unable to prevent the theft of the Horn on the part of Koradrane, chased the kenolater to stop him from completing his plan. For the Worm didn't plan to awaken the Trienorn, but to use the original ritual that gave them divinity, alongside the Horn, to steal their divine power and use it to tear reality asunder into insanity. On the floating Stone of Than, surrounded by the slumbering, titanic forms of the Trienorn, two of the wyldervay together with Lilaire fought Koradrane, while two other wyldervay sowed chaos among the armies, helped by a third group of fighters brought from the land of the dead by the Lady and Faelar himself.
Eventually, the wyldervay triumphed, defeating Koradrane (although he would eventually return) and claiming the Horn and the ritual. One of them realized the ritual could be used to reclaim the divine power stolen by the Trienorn, and re-disperse it through the cosmos, breaking the Reflection. This, however, would require the sacrifice of the being who was chosen as repository for this power. Lilaire offered to do so, partially as a penance for having guarded the Path for so long. The ritual drew power not just from the Trienorn, but also from the Ledhrorn who still remained on the battlefield (some had already fled). For a fleeting moment, she was granted all the power of the Trienorn, and then she let herself go, dying an dispersing that power through the Cosmos. The Reflection shattered, and the petrified corpses of the Trienorn fell on the battlefield, killing many.
In the wake of the War of Saints, a new pantheon slowly coalesced, including the Lady of Souls, Faelar, and others who had been instrumental in the War. After a century, even the original wyldervay ascended to this pantheon, the Ilelorn. The ancient history of the Twin Worlds began to be rediscovered, and the Fifth Age began in a strange dichotomy of optimism as turmoil, as the political stability given by many of the Ledhrorn came to an end.
It is impossible to fully describe all the ramifications of the War of Saints, but they are still being felt today. And yet, without it, mortals would likely still be completely unaware of the true history of their world. Granted, many of them still are - the War was mostly contained to the continent of Teidar, so that other continents didn't really see much of a change, other than distant lieges disappearing - but even there, changes have occurred.
The end of the Trienorn and the Ledhrorn has ended the time when the cosmos was out of balance, and the Reflection no longer plagues the world. Whether it could ever return is another question, one which may gain more urgency if Koradrane Quinom continues his long-term game. Already he has sought to weaken the faith in the Ilelorn, hoping to topple their rule, during the Anger War. Should he ever succeed in causing the fall of the Ilelorn, none can say what the world will be like then...
Thank you for joining us in this recap of the War of Saints. This concludes the trilogy of foundational elements upon which the Twin Worlds were built. See you next week!
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